Man jailed for life in ‘senseless’ murder of woman over noise complaint

ROBIN JENKINS

For a year Peter Gulyas had complained about loud music from the apartment below him to the super, the condo board and even the city.

No one else in the Scarborough highrise corroborated his complaints, and investigations by the super discovered nothing.

He became fixated on noises from the apartments both above and below him.

On the evening of Aug. 7, 2012, Gulyas reported once again to the superintendant that loud music was coming from the apartment below him, where Robin Jenkins, 29, lived with her common-law husband Fariq "Steve" Hausain and their two young boys.

The super told Jenkins about the complaint — though he did not notice her music being loud — and she complained that Gulyas banging on the ceiling was scaring her children.

Frustrated with what she considered false accusations, Jenkins eventually stormed up to Gulyas's door, where she was seen yelling and waving her hands.

It was the last time she was seen alive.

On Thursday, Gulyas, 37, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years, for murdering Jenkins in a way that can only be described as "savage and brutal," Superior Court Justice John McMahon said in his decision.

"This is one of the most senseless murders I have encountered. Robin Jenkins lost her life over a senseless argument over whether her music, a floor below the accused, was too loud or not."

Gulyas strangled Jenkins into unconsciousness; then, while she was still breathing, slit her throat and slashed her wrists to the bone, McMahon said.

This is not the case of a mutual struggle, noted McMahon. Gulyas had no injuries apart from a few small scratches, he said.

He was "exceptionally brutal and methodical."

A short time after the killing, Gulyas called 911. "He told the operator in a calm, controlled voice to send the police to his address about some event and that there would be no need for an ambulance," McMahon said.

The officers arrived to find Jenkins' body lying face-down in the hallway and Gulyas standing calmly by, with no blood on his person except for his toe, McMahon said.

In both Gulyas's jury trial, where he was found guilty of second-degree murder, and his sentencing hearing, no reason or explanation has ever been given for why Gulyas killed Jenkins.

The lack of an answer still haunts her family.

"I would like to know, but I will never know," Hausain said outside the courthouse. "He will never say."

Their 6-year-old son wrote in his victim impact statement: "I miss my mom all the time. Why did he kill my mom?"

Gulyas, who emigrated from Hungary in 1994, worked steadily as a carpenter and owned a maintenance company. He was fined in 2002 for two counts of threatening, but has no other criminal record.

He has never shown regret or remorse for killing Jenkins and listened "dispassionately" to the victim impact statements, McMahon said. He declined to make a statement to the court during his sentencing hearing.

"I wish he would apologize to at least somebody, but he hasn't even said a word. He looked like he didn't care," Hausain said, tears in his eyes.

A smile came over his face as he recalled first meeting Jenkins, through a friend.

He knew when he saw her she was the one, he said.

They were together for 14 years.

"She was a wonderful person," he said. Their boys, now 6 and 7, "miss everything about her."

In his victim impact statement he said: "Whenever they see a robin they say: 'There is Mommy. She is watching over us.'"